Two piece traffic channelizing devices are used to warn and alert motorists of hazardous conditions existing on or about roadways as well as to direct or channel them along a designated course which may differ from the ordinary traffic route.
Channelizers exist in a great many configurations and are made from a number of materials. For example, fifty gallon steel drums have found application as channeling devices as have the orange, rubber cones with which most are familiar. Steel drums have largely been supplanted by plastic barrels, which are commonly used in situations where traffic channelization is intended for a sustained period of time or where high visibility is required. These plastic barrels are of a size and appearance suggestive of the steel drums and appear sufficiently formidable to warn motorists of hazards.
In order to impart added stability to plastic barrels, they are often filled with ballast,, typically, sand. In use, and particularly when ballasted, plastic barrels have proven to be effective, stationary devices capable of withstanding movement caused by wind and environmental variables or the irregular turbulence created by large, fast moving motor vehicles.
Despite the inherent stationary advantages, there are disadvantages which derive from the use of ballast, particularly sand, as stabilizing material for traffic channelizers. It has been shown that, when the sand is spilled onto the roadway as the result of impact, it can create a condition which greatly impairs the motorist's ability to maintain control over the vehicle; both braking and steering can be affected.
An example of a ballasted plastic barrel is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,033. Therein, a two-piece plastic drum is disclosed that can be assembled or detached and is characterized by having a plastic upper drum element and a plastic base configured in the nature of an open tray for receipt of a ballast. Because it is inexpensive, readily available and relatively soft, sand is often selected for ballast. The device provides for the placement of loose or bagged sand placed in the open tray of the base thereby imparting stability.
Certain significant problems are inherent to the two-piece device (actually a three-piece device given the requirement of a separate ballast) when in use. Specifically, in ballasting with sand, the sand is most commonly placed in bags or stored in a soft breakable container which will dispense the sand when either run over by a motor vehicle tire or ripped by the vehicle undercarriage. Accordingly, sand is often spread across the roadway when the device is impacted. This is undesirable from a safety perspective in that sand on dry pavement is known to reduce the friction coefficient between pavement and the surface of a tire, thereby increasing braking distances and making steering difficult. From an additional practical standpoint, the displacement of sand out of the ballast tray of the base creates more work and expense in that, prior to subsequent use, the sand ballast must be replaced and the dispersed sand removed from the roadway.
An additional disadvantage relating to the device is that the base is typically made from a flexible, thermoformed plastic. Often several impacts, and particularly when the base is either run over by a vehicle tire or entangled with the vehicle undercarriage, the base is damaged to the point that it can't be reused. Accordingly, the base element fails to provide important safety and durability considerations.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,204 the configuration of the base element is modified to provide for a molded, hollow chamber, which is filled through an opening, and then sealed. The vertical, height of this base is four inches. The base requires the inconvenient step of adding sand to the base--a function which invites human error. Moreover, by its nature, the thermoformed material comprising the base is vulnerable to the extremes and adverse affects of environmental factors, which factors invariably, threaten the structural integrity of the base, leading ultimately, to rupture of the base and dispersal of sand onto the surrounding pavement.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,599 also discloses a ballast base. Like U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,204, this disclosure involves a molded, hollow chamber with an opening and a cover for receipt of a ballast and for use in conjunction with a first, barrel-like element. As distinguished from the preceding invention, however, the invention of this patent requires the placement of a solid ballast means within the dome-shaped, molded chamber. The disadvantages associated with this device are similar to those described above with respect to convenience, the possibility that the ballast will not be securely added to the base in order to avoid leakage, and the short life expectancy of the base due to the material of which it is comprised and the stress imposed upon that material by extreme environmental factors as well as that caused by the repeated insertion and removal of ballasting means.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages described above and introduces the first truly two-piece channelizing device. The base element does not require the addition of a separate ballasting material. Accordingly, the present invention avoids the aforedescribed problems associated with fillable, thermoformed base elements by providing a virtually indestructible, high-density, ultra low-profile and unitarily constructed solid base element made from an inexpensive material, such as recycled rubber.
Disposal of used motor vehicle tires has become a major environmental problem. Landfill approval and environmental standards grow increasingly strict; fewer acceptable means of disposal remain. The present invention, contributes to solution of the tire disposal problem by providing an additional commercial use for recycled tires. The instant invention, presents an environmentally prudent and responsible alternative to the landfilling of used motor vehicle tires.
The properties of rubber include exceptional durability, high density and a natural elastic character. We have used this material to produce a base element which unexpectedly eliminates many of the hereto required labor steps and associated adverse safety implications of post-manufacture ballasting, while providing a device of exceptionally low profile suitable for being repeatedly impacted by motor vehicles without threat to its structural integrity, and thus, its expected useful life. Moreover, the exceptionally low profile mitigates against loss of control of a motor vehicle, as can occur due to tire contact with a thick conventional base and ballast.